# Hester Worsley — A Woman of No Importance character guide

> Hester Worsley in A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Miss Worsley, Hester

**First appearance:** 0003-a-woman-of-no-importance

## Snapshot

A serious young American with Puritan convictions, she arrives among English wits as a moral mirror none of them expected to face.

## Who they are

Hester Worsley is beautiful, wealthy, and unimpressed by the epigrams flying around Lady Hunstanton's drawing room, which makes her both an outsider and a conscience. She befriends Gerald and recoils from Mrs. Arbuthnot's secret before understanding it, revealing how even the well-meaning can be cruel. Her presence forces the play to ask whether English society's charm is worth its cost.

## Relationships

### [Mrs. Arbuthnot](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/mrs_arbuthnot)

_friendship_

Hester, a young American Puritan, feels sympathy and admiration for Mrs. Arbuthnot's quiet dignity and moral strength.

### [Lady Hunstanton](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lady_hunstanton)

_social_

Hester is a guest of Lady Hunstanton, treated with courtesy but viewed as somewhat foreign and outspoken.

### [Lord Illingworth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/lord_illingworth)

_rivalry_

Hester openly disapproves of Lord Illingworth's cynical, immoral views and they clash ideologically.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters/hester_worsley
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/a_woman_of_no_importance_se/characters